Northern Sea Oats

At last, an ornamental grass for moist, shady locations! Northern Sea Oats is native to rich woodlands and stream banks from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Texas and Florida, but thrives almost anywhere in the U.S., regaling you with showy blooms 3 seasons of the year! Birds appreciate its tasty seeds, the foliage looks like bamboo, and the big, loosely held blooms are lovely in fresh or dried arrangements. Northern Sea Oats has something for everyone!

This grass remains a neat 2 to 4 feet tall and 18 to 30 inches wide. Beginning in spring and continuing well into fall, the foliage is topped by giant 6- to 10-inch clusters of dangling blooms. In spring they are green; as the weather gets warmer, they turn a rich golden-tan, and finally burnish reddish-bronze in autumn. (Cut them by late summer if you do not want the plant to self-sow -- it will quickly seed new colonies!) Very stylish any time of year!

The flowerheads are filled with seeds that birds enjoy, so if you want to attract some beneficial wildlife to your garden (they'll also munch a lot of insects for you!), make Northern Sea Oats a prominent part of your landscape. Because it's a native plant, it's very easy to grow from seed, untroubled by pests and diseases, and happy in any moist soil receiving at least partial shade.

One of the nicest features about this grass is that the big, loose bloom clusters shimmer in the slightest breeze, creating a lovely rippling effect in a large planting. Pick them for fresh arrangements in any season, or let them dry and then keep them as Everlastings!

Northern Sea Oats won't die back in winter, so you can either cut it after the first hard frost or let it remain to sculpt the falling snow in your garden. Deer leave it alone, and its vase-like silhouette is quite lovely in the gray winter landscape!

Very adaptable to tough weather, Northern Sea Oats survives droughts nicely, and will live in full sun and drier soil if it must, though it may not grow as tall. Space plants 18 to 30 inches apart (2 feet is a good compromise) for a solid line of beauty. Zones 4-9. Pkt is 20 seeds.